Sea salt and soot

We summarised the neat nose thus – “sea salt and soot, with a whiff of petrol and beef drippings”. And yes, one can describe it as rather singular. That was followed by steak and kidney pie on the palate next to smoked bacon lardons, as well as honey-cured smoked streaky bacon and clootie dumplings. After reduction, the scent was of honey and sea salt-roasted almonds while the taste was that of toasted rye bread, spread with salted butter topped with blueberries and pomegranate seeds. Following 13 years in an ex-bourbon hogshead, we transferred this whisky into a first fill heavy toast medium char hogshead